The invention relates to a repair material for repairing a layer of paint.
Minor paint damage is currently restored using repair kits which comprise, for example, a glass fibre stylus for the slight surface abrasion of the site to be repaired, and a paint stylus (small reservoir for paint with an integrated brush). Alternatively, use is made of spray cans.
The use of paint styluses has the disadvantage that a smooth junction with the paint surrounding the site of the repair is not obtained. Also, the repair area is often not reflectingly smooth. The utilisation of spray cans has the disadvantage that a veil of paint, which is likewise undesirable for aesthetic reasons, is often produced at the transitional region between the site of the repair and the adjacent paint.
The intention is to indicate, by means of the present invention, a material with the aid of which minor paint damage can be repaired in a simple and high-quality manner.
This object is achieved, according to the invention, by means of a repair material which is designed after the fashion of a patch.
The repair patch is Simply stuck on over the defective paint at the site to be restored and is then optionally heated up for hardening and/or for liquefying and subsequently solidifying the paint.
Since, in the repair material according to the invention, the paint material has not yet shrunk to form a brittle layer of paint, it can be successfully adapted even to convex surfaces.
Advantageous further developments of the invention are indicated in subclaims.
Layers of paint material, such as are indicated in the claims, can be produced in a particularly simple manner by applying liquid synthetic-resin paint to a substrate and surface drying the paint.
If the surface dried layer of paint remains, until utilised in service, on a deformable substrate, as is indicated in the claims, the repair material is distinguished by particularly satisfactory mechanical strength.
The further development of the invention according to the claims guarantees still greater deformability of the repair material, since a coherent layer of paint is not yet present in it at all. Nevertheless, the microcapsules guarantee homogeneous distribution of the paint material over the repair material, and such proximity of the individual small volumes of paint that the paint material runs together, when released and optionally heated up, and forms a smooth reflecting surface.
What is achieved with the aid of the invention in accordance with the claims is that, after that bonding of the paint material with the layer of paint to be repaired which takes place under the action of heat, only the paint material is left on the repair area.
If particles of powder paint are put into the microcapsules in accordance with the claims, in the first place the said particles form, after being melted down and cooled again, a layer of paint which is just as capable of being subjected to mechanical loads as the original paint. Furthermore, the paint bonds particularly well with the material lying underneath it.
A repair material such as is indicated in the claims needs no separate adhesive. It is also possible to simply lay the repair material on the repair area which has been heated up beforehand, where it is then fixed by the partial melting of the microcapsules.
The further development of the invention in accordance with the claims is of advantage with a view of the cost-effective manufacture of smaller pieces of repair material starting from large sheets or preferably webs of the said repair material.
What is achieved with the aid of the further development of the invention in accordance with the claims is that the user has available, in a ready-prepared manner, pieces of repair material of different geometry and different size, that is to say, does not have to cut the repair material himself. Cutting of the repair material by the user might lead to irregularities at the edges.
The further development of the invention in accordance with the claims permits adaptation of the colour of the repair material to paint which has become darker.
In that connection, the advantage is achieved, with the aid of the further development of the invention in accordance with the claims, that adaptation to the subsequent darkening can still be carried out the user.
This can be effected in a particularly simple manner in accordance with the claims, through the fact that the user picks out, from a plurality of grey layers, the one which matches best.
The grey layers may, for example, be grids with a different grid-point size, which are printed in a black colour onto a transparent layer. For those paints which become lighter as a result of atmospheric influences, use might also be made, in a similar manner, of xe2x80x9cnegative grey layersxe2x80x9d manufactured by printing a grid pattern of reflective material onto a transparent layer. Alternatively, use might also be made of a white grid pattern for lightening purposes.
The further development of the invention in accordance with the claims makes it possible to keep a supply of only a single kit of repair material, with the aid of which it is then possible to cover a manufacture""s entire range of colours (optionally for a certain model only). This facilitates stock-keeping, particularly at the final vendor""s premises.